Carlisle’s Attie Sandink was recently recognized as a Lifetime Achievement nominee at the 2024 Hamilton YMCA Women of Distinction Awards - a testament to a career dedicated to supporting the health of women and families.
In 2023, Attie celebrated 50 years as a Registered Nurse and she has also been an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) for 32 years.
Attie’s nomination was to recognize her as a longtime advocate for women’s and infants’ health, and particularly for promoting and supporting breastfeeding.
Her response to her nomination was typically modest: “It kind of took me by surprise.”
An advocate for "all things natural"
Attie was born in the Netherlands and came to Canada with her parents when she was one year old. She says she takes after her mother — an advocate for “all things natural” — who had to fight for natural childbirth and breastfeeding when she first came to Canada.
Attie grew up in the Strathroy/Sarnia area and went to Brantford General Hospital School of Nursing to train as a nurse.
She met her husband, Henry, through a young persons’ get-together at Church and they “just clicked.” She says they had a lot in common, including both coming from large families. After they got married in 1976, they made their home in Burlington and Attie started working in the labour and delivery ward at Joseph Brant Hospital.
Their four sons (Matthew, Joel, Cedric and Neal) were born while they were living in Burlington. In about 1989, when their youngest was two, the family moved to Carlisle, where Attie and Henry still live.
The first prenatal classes Attie taught were in the sunroom of their Carlisle home. She used to provide volunteer support for single mothers during labour and delivery and that, along with having her own four babies, made her realize that there wasn’t much support for breastfeeding mothers.
“When I had my own babies, I thought I knew everything … I don’t know anything”, she said sheepishly.
Breastfeeding clinic launches at JBH
In about 1995, Attie started a breastfeeding clinic at Joseph Brant Hospital, after building a case to show that there was a need. Later, she started offering private services to support families, and now has her own clinic, Birth & Baby Needs, in Aldershot.
With a laugh, she says she opened the clinic “after [she] retired” from a part-time/occasional position in the labour and delivery ward at an Oakville hospital, five years ago. Once she had her own premises, she was able to teach interns to become lactation consultants, some of whom still work at her clinic.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Attie tried supporting a few clients online, but didn’t find it helpful. After successfully advocating for lactation support to be deemed essential and covered by OHIP, she set up plexiglass dividers in her office and had clients come in, with staff wearing shields and masks, and following rigorous cleaning protocols.
Attie’s approach is always to “start with this science and then take it back to the natural.”
She says having interns “forces her” to continue to research and learn.
Although Attie says that “breastfeeding is our main thing,” she quickly adds that “we’re not enemies of bottles” and she does have clients who come for support with bottle feeding.
Attie feels humbled to be able to help young families get to know their babies, from one generation to the next; she is now working with some second- and third-generation clients. At the same time, she is very inclusive; her clinic has more than just Caucasian baby dolls for families to practise with.
She's also sensitive to the importance of choosing her words carefully, and of recognizing all different definitions of “family.”
“Every couple has their own journey, no matter what kind of couple,” she stated.
Of all her achievements, Attie is most proud of her four children and how they have developed, although she also admits, with a twinkle, that motherhood was also her most difficult project ever.
